[2019-05-24] LocalBitcoins Bans Bitcoin Buying in Iran

[malevolent]

LocalBitcoins has officially shut off service for Iran-based users, a move that follows weeks of rising rial trading volumes on the platform.

The Helsinki-based peer-to-peer exchange has not explicitly said why Iranians are suddenly being cut off from its service, though U.S. sanctions are almost certainly the cause.

News of the move first circulated across local language Telegram channels earlier this week that the exchange had blocked Iranians. Users reported encountering problems in posting new trades and updating previous ones on the website. [...]

https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce

[o_e_l_e_o]

Not exactly great for the whole "decentralization" argument, if pressure from the US government is enough to dictate who is and is not allowed to trade bitcoin.

What other options exist for users in Iran? Localbitcoins via Tor or a VPN and buying/selling for cash? Are there other exchanges still operating in Iran? Bisq?

[hatshepsut93]

Not exactly great for the whole "decentralization" argument, if pressure from the US government is enough to dictate who is and is not allowed to trade bitcoin.

What other options exist for users in Iran? Localbitcoins via Tor or a VPN and buying/selling for cash? Are there other exchanges still operating in Iran? Bisq?

Like it or not, Bitcoin is still tied to fiat, fiat is needed for liquidity and ensuring price discovery, so for as long as living 100% on crypto is not possible (which might just never happen), fiat economy will be important to Bitcoin. Inability to buy Bitcoin conveniently/legally can be a pretty annoying obstacle for its adoption, and I hope Iranians will find some safe methods to trade BTC.

[Bezobraznike]

Not exactly great for the whole "decentralization" argument, if pressure from the US government is enough to dictate who is and is not allowed to trade bitcoin.

What other options exist for users in Iran? Localbitcoins via Tor or a VPN and buying/selling for cash? Are there other exchanges still operating in Iran? Bisq?

   Localbitcoins is not the one who provides USA's style politic towards to unwelcomed countries.
Binance banned people from Serbia to authorization on the exchanger. That's only one of examples with which I faced directly. Who knows who else suffer from such kind of relationships?!

[Lucius]

The servants do what their master orders them, and LB knows that if they do not obey to US they will have much bigger problems but to lose one country. Large companies always take the path of least resistance, which is somehow normal, but this is about bitcoin which should be available to everyone and LB prevents this possibility.

However if you read the article, Iranians are not without options to buy / sell crypto. Bisq, Hodl Hodl, and KeepChange normally do business in that country for now. It only proves someone else will use business opportunity and become solution for problem.

[malevolent]

Binance banned people from Serbia to authorization on the exchanger. That's only one of examples with which I faced directly. Who knows who else suffer from such kind of relationships?!

Do you mean you can't get verified to increase the daily withdrawal limit or you can't use a credit card with Binance? Serbia isn't on the restricted countries list.

[Netnox]

I don't think that much can be done about it. Localbitcoins need to abide by the sanctions. Else the American authorities will come down heavily on them and in the end the global users are going to suffer. I feel bad about Iranian users, as they are heavily dependent on LBC. Hopefully they will be able to find a viable and trustworthy alternative soon.

[CryptoBry]

Not exactly great for the whole "decentralization" argument, if pressure from the US government is enough to dictate who is and is not allowed to trade bitcoin.

What other options exist for users in Iran? Localbitcoins via Tor or a VPN and buying/selling for cash? Are there other exchanges still operating in Iran? Bisq?

Like it or not, Bitcoin is still tied to fiat, fiat is needed for liquidity and ensuring price discovery, so for as long as living 100% on crypto is not possible (which might just never happen), fiat economy will be important to Bitcoin. Inability to buy Bitcoin conveniently/legally can be a pretty annoying obstacle for its adoption, and I hope Iranians will find some safe methods to trade BTC.

As long as we need the fiat money to buy bitcoin then the power of the government will always be around our neck. We might say whatever we might say about this situation but any platform would prefer to avoid any confrontation with the government on any matters relative to doing business. Just because we are in cryptocurrency does not mean that we are not anymore living in reality...and sometimes reality hurts (and yes you can say it also sucks!).

[roosbit]

@o_e_l_e_o is right it might have everything to do with us sanctions and they are now trying to put amends that they(Iranians) don't escape these sanctions either.

Over the last few years, reports have detailed that Iranian residents have been using cryptocurrencies to escape these sanctions so they can buy products and services overseas.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/traders-are-now-banned-from-using-localbitcoins-exchange-in-iran/

What other options exist for users in Iran? Localbitcoins via Tor or a VPN and buying/selling for cash?

I guess we shall see more LBC accounts trades as a response to this ban...so much for decentralization  

And am not sure to what extent the ban goes, but can these guys actually still list or use old trades, like buying/selling for cash...TBH I think this might not be possible

[Betwrong]

From my experience, LocalBitcoins is not the best place you can buy or sell BTC, so, I guess, Iranians are not losing much in that regard.

As for the U.S. sanctions against countries such as Iran, they are rarely effective because they mostly strike not the governments which are evil and must be dealt with, undoubtedly, but the regular people who are not evil and who suffer from those governments too. The problem is that most people are uneducated in such countries and thus they are easily manipulated. That's why they constantly vote for the wrong guys. But with the help of the Internet this situation will change very soon, I'm sure.

[stompix]

I see the Bisq name mentioned 4 times...
Please tell me this is not their entire stats for the usd pair:



Also...
https://bisq.network/markets/?currency=btc_irr

[BitHodler]

I see the Bisq name mentioned 4 times...
Please tell me this is not their entire stats for the usd pair:
-snip-

Is there anything wrong with it? It's widely known that decentralized exchanges aren't offering the usability and convenience people are looking for, so it's normal that the volumes are very low.

I guess the few people who do use decentralized exchanges do that because they don't have a choice or simply don't want to go through KYC/AML measures just to occasionally buy and sell Bitcoin.

[stompix]

Is there anything wrong with it? It's widely known that decentralized exchanges aren't offering the usability and convenience people are looking for, so it's normal that the volumes are very low.

First, the spread is enormous, for 1BTC you end up 1800 down and 1200 up.
Second, yeah the volume is so poor it shows people don't care about decentralization that much.
Third, there is no history of an iranian rial vs btc...so not so much of an alternative.

The problem I have with those so-called decentralized exchanges is that they are not so much decentralized.

1) The owners are holding the funds in an escrow. They can easily lock them up, can't they?
2) In case of a dispute, you have an arbitrage, so again somebody else decides
3) The trade might be decentralized but you still receive your money via banks or other payments methods so again, not so decentralized and this one will never be.

How is this different from LocalBitcoins?

[davis196]

Not exactly great for the whole "decentralization" argument, if pressure from the US government is enough to dictate who is and is not allowed to trade bitcoin.

What other options exist for users in Iran? Localbitcoins via Tor or a VPN and buying/selling for cash? Are there other exchanges still operating in Iran? Bisq?

Do you really think that localbitcoins is decentralized?LBC is a firm like any other and they are trying to protect their business and abide by the laws/rules.
I'm not sure now secure and reliable are Tor and VPNs,when it comes to handle financial transactions.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Do you really think that localbitcoins is decentralized?

No, and I never made such a statement. I think you have misread or misunderstood my initial point.

My "decentralization" comment was referring to the decentralized nature of bitcoin as a whole. It's not really a decentralized currency if the United States can still effectively get to decide who is and is not allowed to buy/sell/trade/own/use it. Of course Localbitcoins and most other exchanges are centralized entities.

[1Referee]

From my experience, LocalBitcoins is not the best place you can buy or sell BTC, so, I guess, Iranians are not losing much in that regard.

I'm certain there are local marketplace sites there generating just as much or even more traffic than LBC does for Iranians, and now LBC is no longer serving Iranians, it allows the market there to become even stronger because when one large player exits, multiple pop up trying to fill up its gap. In that regard, they helped the Iranian market instead of crippling it.

All these measures help markets to go more local than ever before, so we should be happy with these developments.

[magneto]

This will most likely become some sort of trend during this bull market.

Services will be increasingly pressured to stop offering their product to countries that are heavily sanctioned by multiple countries, or risk their license being removed and such. That's just the implications of bitcoin regulations tightening, I guess.

It shouldn't be much of an issue on a global scale, though, given that there are always going to be alternative platforms. Though, it will result in huge inconveniences in these individual sanctioned states.

[LeGaulois]

...

Not the Dex's fault if people trade centralized money there. There is not always someone to deal with disputes, but in the case of Bisq if a decider is not fair he can lose a good amount of money so it's unlikely to happen. LocalBitcoin isn't decentralized, even when you remove all centralized payment methods.

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

That should mean stay away from LBC if they are now banning people from buying bitcoin.
If they are doing this as a backing to what is going on the the political sectors they have no place being part of the bitcoin ecosystem.

[stompix]

Not the Dex's fault if people trade centralized money there. There is not always someone to deal with disputes, but in the case of Bisq if a decider is not fair he can lose a good amount of money so it's unlikely to happen. LocalBitcoin isn't decentralized, even when you remove all centralized payment methods.

You see, there is no real decentralization when somebody appoints somebody else to be a "decider".
All those so-called decentralized exchanges are good at only one thing, tricking the people into believing they are decentralized with no central control point.